Just Start Over

I think there's a technical term for yanking out your stitches and starting from scratch when things go south.  I should familiarize myself with this word.

I prepped for the Half Double by watching a couple of YouTube videos.  This one showed and explained it so I felt I could begin.

Librariandoa has twelve beads rather than the required ten.  I figured I could work in the two extras somehow.

Made my chain of 34, check.

Added a row of single crochet on top of my chain check.

Get to the half double stitch, make one, check.

Go to make a second and it all goes kablooie.  Tried to back up a couple of times and suddenly my tidy end of the row had unravelled and I had to start all over. 

Try try again later.

Blog List Cheerily Updated

Ta da. I now have Books/Authors, Cooking/Baking, Gardening and Craft Blog sections. I cleverly delineated between them by adding nice images to lead the sections.

As always, I enjoy blogs with a nice conversational writing style accompanied as needed by charming pictures.  Just the sort of thing you find on DOA!  

Crochet: Half Double and I'm in Trouble

The next project in my book is a Friendship Bracelet using Half Double Crochet (which I don't know).

It weaves in beads to make it extra tricky.   I'm temporarily stalled while I search my in the process of reorganization craft room for a Tapestry Needle.  My beading is ready to go.  

Wish me luck!

 

Crochet for Bozos: Scrunchie

The second project in my book uses single crochet to attach yarn chains to a common, previously boring Scrunchie.

It was good practice mostly as I tried to keep a looser tension on the yarn (somehow I like to keep it in a sort of stranglehold).  I also hold the hook differently than the recommended "pencil" or "pinch" methods and I'm trying to change that because I'm not very efficient in my moves.

 

 

It didn't come out too badly.  I can't see myself wearing it, but I did get a volunteer to try it on.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

It's a New Year and of course I am not a Garden Blogger and I have nothing in bloom, but voila I would like to do the every 15th of the month post this season.

I feel like a person might get desperate to show something in bloom in midwinter and they'd raid Cub for some tiny flowering plant.  I suppose that isn't cheating and it might liven and cheer me to see a flower in February.  We shall see.

What I do have are my houseplants that made it in from outside (alas some were tossed) and a couple of Rosemary and Lavender plants which just looked lovely all summer in the garden.  They resisted cold fall temps and begged to come in to sit in a sunny window.  They still look charming and of course you can brush them with your hand for a wonderful scent.

Lavender Goodwin Creek

Tuscan Blue Rosemary

I will be slowly adding the garden and baking blogs back in so keep a sharp eye out.  We'll start with the May Dreams Gardens blog which is the ongoing inspiration for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Barnes and Noble SF and Fantasy Blog

There are so many great Science Fiction and Fantasy books coming out this year.  Barnes and Noble has a new blog featuring some of these.  It's nice to get another viewpoint on what upcoming books will be of interest.

Crochet: Square One

Here we are in the doldrums (I think) of winter and I feel the desire to be crafty.

You may recall the tragedy of my being unable to make a Granny Square though I've done them in the past.

I decided to start all over re-learning crochet.  Though there are bazillions of YouTube videos they tend to go too fast for me. Or the person's voice or creepy hands start distracting me.

I have a couple of learning to crochet books of my own including one for kids.  I figure these guys are talking to an audience at about my ability level, and I should start with the simplest projects imaginable.  

Today I shall attempt a chain stitch shoelace. With the help of the cat.

Figure A  short and ucky chain stitch.  Not sticking this in my shoe!

Book Riot's The Great 2015 YA Series Roundup

Via Book Riot, a list of upcoming continuations of ongoing YA Series.  I'm a little chagrined to see how few of these I read.  It's all here if I run out of reading material!

http://bookriot.com/2015/01/13/great-2015-ya-series-round/


Libba Bray's Lair of Dreams from her Diviner's series is at the tip top of my list.

Though I love his Monstromologist series best, I'm looking forward to Rick Yancey's next book in the Fifth Wave series.  Soon to be a major motion picture....

Charlie Higson's The Enemy series has the worryingly title The End coming out in fall. Noooo. It can't be the end.

Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (Not a Review)

I avoided reviews of the movie before seeing it and just glanced at whether people on FB liked it or not before (finally!!) seeing it.  But ha, I am all about spoilers myself.

I loved it.  The characterizations and bringing to life of Middle Earth are without parallel. 

Each of the dwarves were so well realized.

I didn't mind the love triangle of Tauriel, Legolas and Kili as I thought I might have.  I really enjoyed Tauriel.  Kili was sweet and handsome but yo, who wouldn't go for Legolas instead?

Legolas and that crumbling bridge!  The way he danced up those falling stones.  Man he was at the top of his game.  I liked the interplay between Legolas and his father as well.

Martin Freeman is such a great Bilbo.  I confess I never cared for Ian Holm as Bilbo at all, but Freeman, oh how wonderful he was.  His conversations with Thorin, what integrity, little Hobbit.

The battle scenes were grand, I particularly loved the dwarves in their stout little armor taking on ANYTHING that came their way.

The elves with their sharp militaristic movements always impress.

Loved those mounts, the reindeer thing, the boar, wow.

Radagast the Brown did not disappoint.

Loved that bit at the end where Thranduil points Legolas towards a Dunedain Ranger named Strider.

I wanted to come right home and watch Fellowship of the Ring.

Feedly

I thought I'd try Feedly again as a sort of bloggy news aggregator.

I managed to sign up and pick some blogs.  It seems that you can only pick blogs already on their list which is an annoyance.  

They also seem to want to guide you towards particular categories, and gardening wasn't one of them. 

I'll take a look at the tutorial but it looks as if I would be better served getting my blog roll back in shape.

Bah, Feedly.